Fallen Hero
by BauerPower24
Summary: Jack is being tortured in one of China's toughest prisons whilst Audrey does everything she can to bring America's greatest hero home safely.
1. Chapter 1

Fallen Hero

Loneliness. Fear. Pain.

The three words that perfectly summed up Jack's life now. The feelings he had to cope with. To accept. To deal with. To hide. Since the day Cheng had taken him. His life could have worked out, but yet again he laid down his life for the good of his country and this time it was taken. China would not forgive him; they would make his life hell.

Jack sat in his small, cramp cell, his back pressed against the cold gray concrete wall. The cell was just about big enough for him to lie down in; but there was no bed, and no blankets to keep him warm through the harsh cold nights. The corner of the cell functioned as a toilet, which meant it was only cleaned when the stench could be smelt from the officer's break room.

The conditions Jack now lived in caused him to get sick and he usually threw up daily just from the smell. The only light that entered was through the grate in the heavy steal door. The grate could be opened like a sort of cat flap so Jack's stale bread, water and the occasional bowl of rice could be delivered.

Jack heard footsteps on the other side of the door and flinched backwards as the grate opened and the hands of a Chinese guard grabbed the empty bowl and cup. When the grate closed again Jack thought that maybe (for today at least) he would be left alone. Left to build up some strength; ready and waiting for Cheng to crush.

Then suddenly, the door burst open and light flooded into the room. Jack squinted but managed to look up at the doorway where Cheng now stood in the same black suit and red tie he wore everyday. He was flanked by two of the guards proudly wearing their green uniforms and black officer caps; they stood bolt upright but both had huge smiles across their faces. Every guard smiled when they entered his cell; in this prison they all enjoyed the same thing. Beating the hell out of Jack.

Cheng kept his eyes fixed on him but spoke quickly in Chinese. The guards came up to Jack and grabbed his arms pulling him up. Jack yelped out as pain rushed threw his body. The cuts and burns up and down his torso never had the chance to heal. Cheng made sure of that.

Jack received a knee to the gut for his small outburst. He wanted to scream out and attack the guards but he was too weak; and all it would do was earn him some cruel punishment that would result with more pain. So Jack simply let them drag him out of the cell.

He was expecting the guards to take him to the interrogation room; where all the equipment would be laid out for the guards to have their fun with, whilst Jack sat silently ignoring Cheng's questions. If there was one thing that pleased Jack since he'd gotten here it was the fact that Cheng had yet make him talk; threw all the pain and torture he still hadn't broken.

Jack had gotten used to the routine now. But still everyday he'd hope they'd leave him alone. Forget about him. Leave him alone with only his memories for company. Jack always imagined he was somewhere else when they started hurting him. He'd block out the pain and go into his own world; Cheng couldn't touch his mind. Whilst they did unimaginable things to him he'd simply imagine he was back with Audrey.

He would remember the times they spent together, like their first date or the their first kiss, or the first time they met.

When Jack started his first day of work for Secretary Heller in DC he was told he'd be working closely with his boss's daughter, Audrey. Jack thought she would be the usual boring bureaucrat like all the others and Jack's days would just be full of talking about this rule, that protocol and how this should be done and thinking how much he wanted to be back at CTU. He prepared himself and walked into the office he'd been sent to by the secretary; Audrey was sitting at her desk working on her laptop; Jack thought she looked stunning with her long blonde hair hanging down past her shoulders. He even thought he was in the wrong room. He was looking for a stern faced rule loving women but here was this beautiful, very casual looking and blissful angel.

Jack managed to make a complete fool of himself by asking Audrey where exactly he could find Mrs. Raines; which made Audrey chuckle before introducing herself; 'Actually it's Miss Raines' she said to Jack who was smiling but had turned slightly pink with embarrassment. Audrey simply smiled and gave him a wink and that was when Jack was hooked, he was head over heels in love from that moment on.

During the six months after they first met Jack and Audrey's relationship had grown and grown, they would go out together everyday after work to restaurants, the park and even baseball games. They would usually spend weekends at each other's apartments and Audrey always managed to get their hotel rooms next to each other whilst on business trips with her father.

_But then the day Audrey was kidnapped; she saw the other side of him; then after watching as he let her husband die Audrey couldn't even stand to be near him anymore. When she told him they were over it hit him like a dagger through the heart. Audrey saw exactly what he'd been running away from, his deep dark secret he had never wanted her to know about. _

Nevertheless after 18 months he came back from the dead; Audrey was there. There to say she didn't blame him. To give him a second chance. But again as soon as something good happened it was taken away. Jack was forced to resign to the fact that he'd never be happy again. That he'd never get another chance at his life. That all that was left for him now was to die as the man who never gave up his country. The agent that never gave anything to the enemy. A silent hero.

As the guards dragged him along, his bare feet scraping against the rough floor, he tried to keep his head down and just let them do what they wished with him. Jack lifted his head slightly and noticed that the guards were not taking him to the interrogation room; they dragged him down another corridor he'd never set foot in before.

The corridors were lit by cheap light bulbs dangling from the ceiling; the walls covered with mold from the damp. Jack saw a large, badly damaged wooden door at the corridor's end. Light was shining through the gaps in between the door and it's frame; but as well as the light Jack realized that as they approached the door he was breathing in fresh air. Which could only mean one thing. They were taking him outside.

_Jack remembered back to six moths ago when Cheng had escorted him here. After (what he thought to be) two weeks of being beaten to a pulp on the container ship, so that he no longer had the strength to resist. They arrived in China where a group of 20 Chinese officials along with 50 military personnel were all waiting for him, to make sure he arrived in China without a hitch._

From there he was shoved in the back of a military truck and knocked out with a punch to the head every time he awoke until they reached the Chinese border with Siberia. Then Jack was dragged, punching and kicking into the prison building, stripped of his clothes and given a blue prison uniform made of the thinnest material available. After that he was brutally tortured everyday before being chucked back into his cell. When it came to torturers only Cheng's best men were allowed near Jack. So far they'd used all their 'tools', knives, batons, bamboo canes, drills, branding irons. No expense spared.

The guards stopped a few feet from the door as Cheng walked in front and drew a small bronze key from his pocket; placing it in the lock on the door. As it creaked opened freezing cold air burst into the building. Cheng, along with the two guards were wearing thick clothes but even they shivered slightly. Jack was already turning blue, he might as well of been wearing nothing. Cheng nodded at the guards, they'd already planned out everything so no words were needed.

The guards kicked Jack forward; he tumbled down a few steps and fell flat on his face into a thick layer of snow. Jack tried to push himself up but his arms and legs just refused to work in the bitter cold; it was as if his joints had ceased up completely. This time Cheng came up to Jack and grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt, tugging forwards. Jack stumbled; still unable to get to his feet, so as Cheng continued to pull him forward he was forced to try and crawl along through the snow.

His hands and feet were already showing the first signs of frostbite. Jack could barely feel them and they had started to turn a deep purple. Finally after a few minutes Cheng stopped and the guards starting to fumble behind them. Jack heard the rattling of chains, and snapped his head backwards to see what was happening. The guards were now right behind him and were attaching chains to a metal plate that had been bolted to the ground. They pulled at the metal links making sure they were secure then they opened the large cuffs at each end and fitted then around Jack's ankles.

The chains were not long enough for him to stand so he just had to kneel in the five-inch deep layer of snow. Cheng crouched down in front of him and looked straight into his eyes, burning a hole deep into his soul.

"You still refuse to talk Mr. Bauer; you'll be spending the rest of you life here so I thought you might like to see how beautiful China is during the winter."

With that Cheng stood tall, and began to walk back to the prison building, but before he was out of view he gave a signal to one of the guards. Who immediately walked up to Jack and kicked him in the ribs. The impact pushed all of the wind out of Jack's lungs and he crumpled over trying to collect his breath.

But the other guard grabbed him by his hair, which was now incredibly long and matted. Whilst one guard held him the other began to undo the buttons on Jack shirt and after 30 seconds managed to rip it off him completely. Once his shirt was off the guards retreated and sat down on a nearby bench.

Jack managed to sit back up on his knees looking around at his surroundings. He was in a clearing in the forest, surrounded by tall trees that unfortunately were to far away to provide any protection against the snow that had started falling. The snowfall was so thick that Jack couldn't see anything past a few meters. A gush of wind made the cold air rush into his lungs; the wind whipped against his cuts and burns making then sore and red.

He could barely breathe, and his skin was red raw thanks to this bitter weather. Jack tried to keep his mind on something else, but the pain was too much this time. Cheng has used all the torture techniques he knew of; he'd put all his work and effort into breaking Jack, now he was just leaving it to the weather, Cheng could sit back and relax whilst Jack was suffering outside. The freezing conditions were beginning to get too much for him; as another wave of pain overcame him he gladly accepted the darkness that was beginning to engulf him, and he fell into unconsciousness.


	2. Chapter 2

Audrey sat in the paper-filled study at her father's house reading through files searching for any information to find the one person who truly understood her. The one man who never stopped loving her. The hero who saved her life. Since Jack's captured she'd been living with her father, it was safer for her, not that anyone wanted her dead; she was living at her father's house simply because James was scared of what she might do to herself.

Since the day he found Audrey in her apartment, sitting on the sofa in a kind of trance with a butcher's knife hovering above her wrist he'd never let he stay on her own for more than a few minutes. James still worked for the government as one of Wayne's military advisors, but he only worked from home. Having meetings by videoconference or phone call. It wasn't in convenient but as long as Audrey was safe he didn't care and Wayne understood how hard it was for Audrey so he didn't have a problem with it.

For the past five months Audrey had spent almost every minute of every day sitting in her father's luxurious study with large mahogany desk and black leather chairs. Every time Heller came in to check on her she'd be typing furiously on the computer, staring at the screen with bloodshot eyes or, reading through a bulky file full of pointless information.

Each night at the Heller household James woke screaming and whimpering from Audrey's room, there hadn't been a night since that fateful day that Audrey hadn't jerked out of bed shrieking from her nightmares of what was happening to Jack in China. Audrey's room was filled with pictures of her and Jack together, James didn't really approve as he thought it would just be a constant reminder of what had happened; but Audrey insisted they sat, they reminded her of the happy times her and Jack spent together.

James never realized how much his daughter had loved Jack until now, he had months back been told that there was no hope of ever getting back the man that had saved the lives of millions. CTU had given up after a month of intense searching, it didn't take them long to find out that the Chinese had taken Jack but the problem was that America could do nothing. It had already been agreed 2 years ago after the raid on the consulate that Jack would be handed over.

If Wayne had asked for Jack to be returned to the US then he would also have to admit that the mission that jack carried out was sanctioned. I doing that it could start World War 3 and however much anyone wanted jack back they knew that he would never want any lives lost to save him. They all knew he'd rather die than that.

The only way for Jack to be saved was to find proof that he was indeed being tortured in China. But this was impossible, no one knew where in China Jack was or were he was being held and even if they did it would be extremely difficult to get any evidence against the men holding him.

With a great amount of despair and sorrow CTU were forced to give up the search, much to this dislike of its director Bill and every one of his employees. Some people there even pleaded that the search should carry on. James had heard that Chloe O'Brian had offered to be put on minimum pay and have her position taken so she could help find Jack. No one wanted to stop but they'd hit a dead end.

Everyone at CTU remembered how much Jack had done for them. When they had been in danger and needed help Jack had always come through for them. He'd come back from the dead to save them and the American people. Jack would manage impossible, do the unthinkable, put everything on the line. Yet when he was the one in jeopardy, when he was the one in desperate need of help nothing was done. No one could save him.

Audrey was devastated; she was at CTU when the order came down from Division to cease the hunt. She wasn't angry with anyone at CTU for not getting results, she was there, so she knew how every single person had spent long days and even nights of their spare time searching. After a month of non- stop searching the American government had given up on their hero. But Audrey…….she never would.

Audrey dedicated the last five months of her life trying to hunt down Jack. She hadn't been out of her father's house for since Heller had brought her over, James had tried many times to get Audrey to stop and move on. All he got was a stare of utter hatred from Audrey and a barrage of 'don't you care's and 'this is the thanks you give to the man who saved your life's. Heller had, after a while accepted that Audrey would persist at her search, he gave Audrey extra funds and access to classified files, and recently she managed to contact the Chinese General Wu who'd agreed to help as long as he was never named in any reports as a source.

Audrey jumped as the phone rang, causing the papers on her lap to spew out onto the floor. 'Dammit' she cursed, she'd have to waste valuable time cleaning up when she could be reading through the report on President Logan's hearing.

He'd admitted to informing the Chinese of Jack's whereabouts during the day and his part in the terrorist conspiracy. The public was never informed of what had happened to him. He was charged with murder, deception and treason and given life imprisonment. Audrey was glad that he had at least been served some justice, as he now would spend the rest of his days in one of DOD's secret underground detention centers.

Audrey swiveled round in her chair and found the phone under a mound of files. She checked the caller ID and found the call was originating from a secure satellite phone. She perked up as a sudden wave of hope rushed over her. It must be General Wu calling and for him to be contacting her again meant one thing, he found out something on Jack.

"Hello… th…this is Audrey…… Heller" she said, only just managed to get the words out, she was so nervous.

"Miss Heller, General Wu speaking." He began with a heavy Chinese accent. "I have just received information from one of my team on the whereabouts of the American Agent Jack Bauer.

Audrey squealed in excitement, this was the break she was looking for; she was one step closer to finding him. The general was obviously surprised at Audrey's reaction, he had been told by former Secretary of Defense Heller that Audrey was working for CTU and just continuing the search for Mr. Bauer, now he realized they must have known each other. After a few seconds of awkward silence he continued.

"Mr. Bauer is being held in the maximum security Chinese prison camp Mae Tzi on the border with Siberia. The Chinese official heading Agent Bauer's case is a Mr. Cheng Zhi."

"Are you sure?" Audrey asked, her voice quivered slightly, the deep amount of concern she had over the matter becoming very apparent.

"Yes, I had the information double checked, I am 100 certain of Agent Bauer's location and that Cheng Zhi would be the one to ask him any questions. Miss Heller I gave you exactly what you wanted, if you need any more information I suggest you contact someone else, if my superiors find out I've been talking to anyone in your government without permission I'll be killed. Good luck with the rest of your search."

General Wu quickly ended the call and looked around his office suspiciously, but ever seemed to be usual. Thinking back over the call he realized how concerned Miss Heller had been. Then he made the connection. He grabbed the file on Jack off his desk and flicked through to the report of Jack's last day on American soil, he scanned down the page until he came across Karen Hayes report.

"We suspected Audrey to be part of the conspiracy and Jack asked if he could be the first to talk to her, at first I thought against it because of his personal relationship with Audrey, but after all he had already done for CTU throughout the day I decided that he should at least be given a chance". General Wu stopped reading back over the sentence, confirming what he had just read, 'personal relationship'. This man, Jack Bauer was Audrey's boyfriend. This new information could be very very useful indeed for Bauer's interrogators.

Audrey heard the click on the other end of the phone just before it fell from her hand, hitting the floor with a thud as she burst in to tears. Thirty seconds later James was in the room, very concerned as to what just happened, he was very anxious as he saw Audrey curled up in the chair, her knees brought up tightly to her chest as she sobbed.

"Hey Audie, what's got you so upset?" Heller asked, slowly approaching Audrey and crouching down in front of the chair gentling taking her hand in his as an attempt to calm her. Audrey peered down at her father; she was still in a state of shock, tears rolling down her face.

"Come on Audie, what's the matter?" Heller said, once again trying to get to the bottom of what was going on.

"It..it's…Jack, I….fo..found out where…he…he is." She answered trying to keep back the tears.

"Well that's great sweetie, your closer to getting him back" Heller was unsure to why his daughter was so upset, finding jack's location was fantastic news, now it was possible to try and start finding evidence.

"It's not..not great dad, they're holding him at Mae Tzi " Audrey burst into tears again.

James now understood why he daughter as so traumatized. When CTU had been looking for Jack they compiled a list of possible places the Chinese could have taken him to. Mae Tzi was the Chinese prison where only the worst criminals who committed major crimes against the country were taken. It was a prison for spies and traitors. The prison was not really used just to hold prisoners like the other ones in China; it was used to torture them.

Heller remembered being told by Bill about the prison. The personnel there were trained especially for torture, only the best were taken, they trained for years learning and improving many skills. They were professionals, the best in China. James knew that they must have brought Jack there straight away, probably torturing him daily. There he would stay until he gave up all the information the Chinese wanted or he was killed when they were trying to get it.


End file.
